Chapter 68: A Large-Scale Exorcism Method

Bai Hongtu looked at him and sighed. “This is dangerous, you know.”

Li Yanchu said slowly, “But we can’t just sit back and watch this thing harm people. Blood money is spreading among the people. If one day it erupts in full force, it’ll be a catastrophe beyond imagining.”

Bai Hongtu fell silent; he understood what Li Yanchu meant. Blood money didn’t kill instantly. It slowly drained a person’s essence, qi and spirit, gnawing away at their three souls and seven spirits.

But that steady erosion... could very well explode all at once someday, causing people to drop dead in an instant. They couldn’t bet everything on the hope that whatever was behind it would stay tame forever. What’s more, three people had already died last night at the Daxing Gambling Den. The force behind the blood money... had started killing.

Bai Hongtu put away his usual flippant attitude, moved by Li Yanchu’s unwavering sense of justice.

“I won’t go to the entertainment district these next few days,” he said earnestly. “I’ll stay at the temple and lend you a hand.”

Li Yanchu replied, “Not because the paper effigy woman and the two-part corpse were hiding in the pleasure house and left you traumatized?”

...Ah.

Bai Hongtu flinched and hurried to explain, “Absolutely not! It’s just a small matter. I’ve already forgotten all about it. You don’t need to keep bringing it up!”

Li Yanchu blinked and, imitating the madam’s voice, said sweetly, “Of course, Young Master Bai...”

Bai Hongtu nearly choked on air.

Why was I even moved a second ago?

Should’ve just let the thing behind the blood money suck him dry!

With a huff, he pushed open the door and stormed out.

Li Yanchu remained inside, calmly sitting cross-legged beside the pile of blood money. Breathing steadily, he closed his eyes in meditation.

Just like that, the night passed without incident.

The next day...

Head Constable Wang came to find Li Yanchu, his expression grave. More people had died in Wei City the previous night: a street vendor roaming the alleys, a scholar reading and painting, a shopkeeper and a clerk working late, and even a thirteen-year-old boy. Five people died in total.

All had dropped dead without warning with no visible wounds, and their deaths were exactly the same as the three gamblers who died the night before at Daxing Gambling Den.

“That boy was only thirteen. His parents had passed away, and he lived by begging on the streets. He was just an orphan scraping by in the marketplace,” Head Constable Wang said, voice heavy with sorrow and barely restrained anger. “He was found early this morning, dead by the roadside. All he had on him were two copper coins... and half a hardened bun.”

His voice trembled slightly. “He was only thirteen...

Thirteen

.”

Li Yanchu’s chest surged with a powerful wave of fury. The night before, the victims had been idle gamblers, so he hadn’t felt so shaken. But these... these were ordinary, hardworking townspeople.

A street vendor rising early for a living; a shop clerk forced to smile for customers day in and day out; a student burning the midnight oil, hoping for success in the exams; and an orphan boy, all alone in the world, clutching his last bits of copper and a piece of stale food.

Just imagining that boy made Li Yanchu’s chest tighten.

“If I ever find the thing behind this blood money...” Li Yanchu’s voice turned icy. “I’ll make sure it’s

utterly annihilated

.”

Bai Hongtu said, worried, “It’s happening, just as we feared. That thing is a scourge. And now it’s begun killing indiscriminately.”

Head Constable Wang shuddered. “Just the money alone is enough to kill people... That ghostly thing... just thinking about it gives me chills down my spine.”

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

As the thought crossed his mind, Head Constable Wang couldn’t help but glance at Li Yanchu. If it hadn’t been for this young Daoist discovering the matter, raising the alarm, and warning the public, the number of deaths by now would likely have been far greater.

The three of them hurried to the official blood money inspection site, only to find it already packed wall to wall with townsfolk. People were surging forward from every direction, clutching copper coins in their hands and arms, hoping to get them examined.

Li Yanchu’s heart sank at the sight.

The imperial court still hadn’t sent any exorcists or demon-slaying specialists. It was just him and Bai Hongtu examining the coins, and they were moving far too slowly.

A few days ago, some local monks and Daoists in Wei City had been invited to help. But none of them were true cultivators, so they couldn’t even tell which coins were blood-tainted.

There’s no other choice. We’ll have to keep using this stupid, slow method for now,

Li Yanchu thought grimly.

This kind of insidious killing method was nearly impossible to defend against.

Bai Hongtu’s expression was also grim. Although the percentage of blood money found so far across Wei City wasn’t terribly high, the city was far too large, and just the two of them weren’t enough to handle it.

If this had remained at the level of slowly draining essence and qi, perhaps it could have been managed, but the evil force behind it was clearly becoming increasingly violent. Last night alone, it had already claimed five lives, as if human lives were nothing but grass.

The people of Wei City were now living in constant fear, and a heavy, suffocating dread that hung in the air. No one knew if tonight might be their last.

Just then, a young girl with dirty hands and ragged sleeves timidly placed two copper coins in front of Li Yanchu.

His heart softened instantly.

“Another child with a hard life...”

He glanced down at the coins and immediately spotted it; one of them was tainted, bearing traces of blood. A flash of murderous qi flickered through his eyes and vanished. If that coin hadn’t been found, this girl might have died tonight.

He silently swapped the coin out for a clean one and handed it back to her, saying nothing.The world was the way it was. What a single person could do... was all too limited.

As night fell, the curfew was enforced. This was the law of the Kingdom of Qian, meant to prevent criminals from taking advantage of the darkness.

Even now, with blood money claiming lives, the curfew had not been lifted by the authorities. Otherwise, if the curfew were lifted, some with malicious intent might take advantage of the chaos, and the damage they caused might not be any less than that of the blood money.

Over the past few days, Li Yanchu had noticed something strange. The distribution of blood money was extremely irregular. Some households had three to five tainted coins, while others had none at all.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. He ordered someone to retrieve the talisman papers he had stored under his bed at the Daoist temple. Then, he instructed the officers and officers to hold the talismans while checking the coins. Although these mundane mortals couldn’t see the taint of blood money themselves, the talisman papers could react to it, acting as a detection tool.

Initially, he had only used the talismans to dispel the sinister qi from blood money, so he hadn’t considered using them this way. What’s more, the recent flood of events had kept his mind too occupied to connect the dots.

Fortunately, he had stockpiled a good number of talismans in his room, and with this method, they could now speed up the inspection process significantly.

When Bai Hongtu heard of it, his eyes lit up in delight. “That’s brilliant!” he said.

Even he hadn’t thought of this approach. And so, the

yamen

officials quickly fetched Li Yanchu’s talismans, distributing them among ten officers, who each used one to test the townspeople’s copper coins. The speed of inspection immediately increased.

Li Yanchu then said, “Head Constable Wang, it’s still too slow. Let’s assign even more men to assist with talisman inspection.”

Head Constable Wang nodded. “Understood. I’ll take care of it right away.”

By nightfall, they had managed to inspect all the coins brought by the townspeople. Though Li Yanchu and the others had barely eaten or drunk all day, the results were nothing short of incredible. Where previous days had uncovered only three to four hundred blood-tainted coins, today alone, they identified over two thousand! And it was Li Yanchu’s talismans that had made all the difference.

When the last coin in the hands of the townspeople was finally examined, a wave of cheers erupted from the gathered crowd. Many of the townsfolk didn’t immediately leave. Instead, they remained, surrounding the area to witness what was happening.

Then, all across the square, the citizens of Wei City knelt down, facing Li Yanchu, Bai Hongtu, and the officers and constables. Voices of heartfelt gratitude rose up like a tide endlessly.

Bai Hongtu was deeply moved. As far as the eye could see, there were masses of people, and now they were all kneeling in unison. It was a scene so vast and solemn, it struck him to the core.

Even the constables and

yamen

officers had reddened eyes. Though they served the government, they had never before received such reverence from the people. Now, standing at Li Yanchu’s side, they felt the weight and warmth of this public gratitude. A sense of purpose and of justice, something that had long been dulled in their hearts, suddenly stirred back to life.

Li Yanchu stood quietly, overcome with emotion. Gazing upon the kneeling masses of the city, he remained silent for a long, long time.